Timely Comics
Timely Comics, an imprint of Timely Publications, was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics. "Timely Publications became the name under which Goodman first published a comic book line. He eventually created a number of companies to publish comics ... but Timely was the name by which Goodman's Golden Age comics were known." "Marvel wasn't always Marvel; in the early 1940s the company was known as Timely Comics, and some covers bore this shield." (See infobox at top of article)"Marvel : Timely Publications (Indicia Publisher)" at the wikipedia:Grand Comics Database. "This is the original business name under which Martin Goodman began publishing comics in 1939. It was used on all issues up to and including those cover-dated March 1941 or Winter 1940-1941, spanning the period from Marvel Comics #1 to wikipedia:Captain America Comics #1. It was replaced by Timely Comics, Inc. starting with all issues cover-dated April 1941 or Spring 1941." During this era, called the Golden Age of comic books, "Timely" was the umbrella name for the comics division of pulp magazine publisher Goodman, whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporate entities all producing the same product. The company was founded in 1939 as Timely Publications,Per statement of ownership, dated Oct. 2, 1939, published in wikipedia:Marvel Mystery Comics #4 (Feb. 1940), p. 40; reprinted in wikipedia:Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Marvel Comics Volume 1 (Marvel Comics, 2004, ISBN 0-7851-1609-5, ISBN 978-0-7851-1609-7), p. 239 based at his existing company, Red Circle, in the McGraw-Hill Building at 330 West 42nd Street in New York City. In 1942, it moved to the 14th floor of the Empire State Building, where it remained until 1951. Creation left|thumb|''Marvel Comics'' #1 (Oct. 1939), the first comic book from [[wikipedia:Marvel Comics|Marvel predecessor Timely Comics. Cover art by Frank R. Paul.|]] In 1939, with the emerging medium of comic books proving hugely popular, and the first superheroes setting the trend, pulp-magazine publisher Martin Goodman founded Timely Publications, basing it at his existing company. Goodman — whose official titles were editor, managing editor, and business manager, with Abraham Goodman officially listed as publisher — contracted with the newly formed comic-book "packager" Funnies to supply material. His first effort, Marvel Comics #1 (Oct. 1939), featured the first appearances of writer-artist Carl Burgos' android superhero, the Human Torch, and Paul Gustavson's costumed Detective the Angel. As well, it contained the first generally available appearance of Bill Everett's Anti-hero Namor the Sub-Mariner, created for the unpublished movie-theater giveaway comic Motion Picture Funnies Weekly earlier that year, with the eight-page original story now expanded by four pages. Also included were Al Anders' Western hero the Masked Raider; the jungle lord Ka-Zar the Great,Unrelated to the Marvel Comics jungle lord Ka-Zar introduced in The X-Men #10 (March 1965) with Ben Thompson adapting the story "King of Fang and Claw" by Bob Byrd in Goodman's eponymous pulp magazine Ka-Zar #1 (Oct. 1936);Ka-Zar at wikipedia:Don Markstein's Toonopedia the non-continuing-character story "Jungle Terror", featuring adventurer Ken Masters, drawn and possibly written by Art Pinajian under the quirky Pseudonym "Tohm Dixon" or "Tomm Dixon" (with the published signature smudged); "Now I'll Tell One", five single-panel, black-and-white gag cartoons by Fred Schwab, on the inside front cover; and a two-page prose story by Ray Gill, "Burning Rubber", about auto racing. A painted cover by veteran science-fiction pulp artist Frank R. Paul featured the Human Torch, looking much different from in the interior story.[http://www.comics.org/details.lasso?id=556 Marvel Comics #1] at the wikipedia:Grand Comics DatabaseMarvel Masterworks: Golden Age Marvel Comics. The smudged Dixon signature is reprinted on page 46. That initial comic, cover-dated October 1939, quickly sold out 80,000 copies, prompting Goodman to produce a second printing, cover-dated November 1939. The latter is identical except for a black bar over the October date in the inside-front-cover indicia, and the November date added at the end. That sold approximately 800,000 copies.Per researcher Keif Fromm, Alter Ego #49, p. 4 (caption) With a hit on his hands, Goodman began assembling an in-house staff, hiring Funnies, Inc. writer-artist Joe Simon as editor. Simon brought along his collaborator, artist Jack Kirby, followed by artist Syd Shores. There is evidence that "Red Circle Comics" — a name that would be used for an unrelated imprint of Archie Comics in the 1970s and 1980s — may have been a term in use as Goodman prepared to publish his first comic book. As official Marvel historian Les Daniels describes, the name Red Circle was "a halfhearted attempt to establish an identity for what was usually described loosely as 'the Goodman group' made when a new logo was adopted: a red disk surrounded by a black ring that bore the phrase 'A Red Circle Magazine.' But it appeared only intermittently, when someone remembered to put it on pulp magazine's cover.Daniels, Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics, p. 21 Pulp historian Richard Paul Hall is more expansive, giving Red Circle as the name for Goodman's pulp and book publishing company, noting that, "Goodman used the Red Circle Group logo between 1937 and 1939 to promote his line."Hall, associated text embedded at red_circle_logo.jpg Within this framework, historian Jess Nevins writes that, "Timely Publications how Goodman's group companies had become known; before this it was known as 'Red Circle' because of the logo that Goodman had put on his pulp magazines...." A variation was used as a publishing imprint on some Timely comics, with the Michigan State University's Comic Art Collection Reading Room Index giving Red Circle Magazines as an "American comics publisher, a Timely-Marvel imprint", and listing issues of Comic Capers (1946), Snafu (1956) and My Own Romance (1960) as examples."Red" to "Red Ryder", Reading Room Index to the Comic Art Collection, Special Collections Division, Michigan State University Libraries Golden Age of Comic Books Marvel Comics was rechristened Marvel Mystery Comics with issue #2 (Dec. 1939) — the magazine would continue under that title through #92 (June 1949) before becoming Marvel Tales through #159 (Aug. 1957) — and Timely began publishing additional series, beginning with Daring Mystery Comics #1 (Jan. 1940), Mystic Comics #1 (March 1940), Red Raven Comics #1 (Aug. 1940), The Human Torch #2 (premiering Fall 1940 with no cover date and having taken over the numbering from the unsuccessful Red Raven), and Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941). Going on sale in December 1940, a year before the bombing of Pearl Harbor and already showing the hero punching Hitler in the jaw, that first issue sold nearly one million copies. thumb|right|200px|''Captain America Comics'' #1 (March 1941), art by [[wikipedia:Jack Kirby|Jack Kirby (penciler) and Joe Simon (inker). |]] With the hit characters Human Torch and Sub-Mariner now joined by Simon & Kirby's seminal patriotic hero Captain America, Timely had its "big three" stars of the era fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. Rival publishers National Comics / All-American Comics, the sister companies that would evolve into DC Comics, likewise had their own "big three": Superman and Batman plus the soon-to-debut Wonder Woman. Timely's other major competitors were Fawcett Publications (with Captain Marvel, introduced in 1940); Quality Comics (with Plastic Man and Blackhawk, both in 1941); and Lev Gleason Publications (with Daredevil, introduced in 1940 and unrelated to the 1960s Marvel hero). Other notable Timely characters, many seen both in modern-day retcon appearances and in flashbacks, include the Angel, the next-most-popular character in terms of number of appearances; the Destroyer and the Black Marvel, two early creations of future Marvel chief Stan Lee; super-speedster the Whizzer; the flying and super-strong Miss America; the original Vision, who inspired Marvel writer Roy Thomas in the 1960s to create a Silver Age version of the character; and the Blazing Skull and the Thin Man, two members of the present-day New Invaders. Just as Captain America had his teenage sidekick Bucky and DC Comics' Batman had Robin, the Human Torch acquired a young partner, Toro, in the first issue of the Torch's own magazine. The Young Allies — one of several "kid gangs" popular in comics at the time — debuted under the rubric the Sentinels of Liberty in a text story in Captain America Comics #4 (June 1941) before making it to the comics pages themselves the following issue, and then eventually into their own title. Seeing a natural "fire and water" theme, Timely was responsible for comic books' first major crossover, with a two-issue battle between the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner that spanned Marvel Mystery Comics #8-9 — telling the story from the two characters' different perspectives. After the Simon & Kirby team moved to DC late 1941, having produced Captain America Comics through issue #10 (Jan. 1942), Al Avison and Syd Shores became regular pencilers of the celebrated title, with one generally inking over the other. Stan Lee (né Stanley Lieber), a cousin of Goodman's by marriage who had been serving as an assistant since 1939, at age 16, was promoted to interim editor just shy of his 19th birthday. Showing a knack for the business, Lee stayed on for decades, eventually becoming Marvel Comics' publisher in 1972. Fellow Timely staffer Vincent Fago would substitute during Lee's World War II military service. left|thumb|''Powerhouse Pepper'' #2 (May 1948). Cover art by [[wikipedia:Basil Wolverton|Basil Wolverton.|]] The staff at that time, Fago recalled, was, "Mike Sekowsky. Ed Winiarski. Gary Keller was a production assistant and letterer. Ernest Hart and Kin Platt were writers, but they worked freelance; Hart also drew. George Klein, Syd Shores, Vince Alascia, Dave Gantz, and Chris Rule were there, too". Funny animals, and people The superheroes were the products of what Timely referred to as the "adventure" bullpen. The company also developed an "animator" bullpen creating such movie tie-in and original funny animal comics as Terrytoons Comics, Mighty Mouse, All Surprise Comics, Super Rabbit Comics, Funny Frolics, and Funny Tunes, renamed Animated Funny Comic-Tunes. Former Fleischer Studios Animator Fago, who joined Timely in 1942, headed this group, which consisted through the years of such writer/artists as Hart, Gantz, Klein, Platt, Rule, Sekowsky, Frank Carin (né Carino), Bob Deschamps, Chad Grothkopf, Pauline Loth, Jim Mooney, Moss Worthman a.k.a. Moe Worth, and future Mad magazine cartoonists Dave Berg and Al Jaffee. Features from this department include "Dinky" and "Frenchy Rabbit" in Terrytoons Comics; "Floop and Skilly Boo" in Comedy Comics; "Posty the Pelican Postman" in Krazy Komics and other titles; "Krazy Krow" in that character's eponymous comic; "Tubby an' Tack", in various comics; and the most popular of these features, Jaffee's "Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal" and Hart's "Super Rabbit", the cover stars of many different titles. Timely also published one of humor cartoonist Basil Wolverton's best-known features, Powerhouse Pepper. The first issue, cover-dated January 1943, bore no number, and protagonist Pepper looked different from his more familiar visualization (when the series returned for four issues, May-Nov. 1948) as the bullet-headed naif in the striped turtleneck sweater. Additionally, Timely in 1944 and 1945 initiated a sitcom selection of titles aimed at female readers: Millie the Model, Tessie the Typist and Nellie the Nurse; the company continued to pursue women readers later in the decade with such superheroines as Sun Girl; the Sub-Mariner spin-off Namora; and Venus, the Roman goddess of love, posing as a human reporter. Marvel branding Publisher Martin Goodman's business strategy involved having his various magazines and comic books published by a number of companies all operating out of the same office and with the same staff. One of these shell companies under which Timely Comics was published was named Marvel Comics by at least Marvel Mystery Comics #55 (May 1944). As well, some comics' covers, such as All Surprise Comics #12 (Winter 1946-47), were labeled "A Marvel Magazine" many years before Goodman would formally adopt the name in 1961.[http://www.comics.org/issue/75617/cover/4/ Cover, All Surprise Comics #12] at the wikipedia:Grand Comics Database Time after Timely Future Comic Book Hall of Fame artist Gene Colan, a Marvel mainstay from 1946 on, recalled that, "The atmosphere at Timely was very good, very funny. ... worked in a big art room and there were about 20 artists in there, all stacked up. Syd [Shores|] was in the last row on my side, and there was another row on the other side. Dan DeCarlo was there, several other people — Vince Alascia was an inker; Rudy LaPick sat right behind me," with Mike Sekowsky "in another room".Gene Colan interview, Alter Ego # 52 (March 2006), pp. 66–67 Yet after the wartime boom years — when superheroes had been new and inspirational, and comics provided cheap entertainment for millions of children, soldiers and others — the post-war era found superheroes falling out of fashion. Television and Mass market paperback books now also competed for readers and leisure time. Goodman began turning to a wider variety of genres than ever, emphasizing horror, Westerns, teen humor, crime and war comics, and introducing female heroes to try to attract girls and young women to read comics. right| In 1946, for instance, the superhero title All Select Comics was changed to Blonde Phantom Comics, and now starred a masked secretary who fought crime in an evening gown. That same year, Kid Komics eliminated its stars and became Kid Movie Comics. All Winners Comics became All Teen Comics in January 1947. Timely eliminated virtually all its staff positions in 1948. The precise end-point of the Golden Age of comics is vague, but for Timely, at least, it appears to have ended with the cancellation of Captain America Comics at issue #75 (Feb. 1950) — by which time the series had already been Captain America's Weird Tales for two issues, with the finale featuring merely anthological horror/suspense tales and no superheroes. Sub-Mariner Comics had already ended with #32 (June 1949), and the company's flagship title, Marvel Mystery Comics, starring the Human Torch, ended that same month with #92, becoming the horror anthology Marvel Tales beginning with issue #93 (Aug. 1949). Goodman began using the globe logo of the Atlas News Company, the newsstand-distribution company he owned, on comics cover-dated Nov. 1951.Marvel : Atlas [wireframe globe (Brand)] at the Grand Comics Database Timely characters and creators List of characters making multiple appearances, either in Timely Comics solely or in Timely and subsequent companies Atlas Comics and Marvel Comics. References Notes External links * Timely at the Grand Comics Database *Nevins, Jess. A Guide to Golden Age Marvel Characters. WebCitation archive. * . * All in Color for a Dime by Dick Lupoff & Don Thompson ISBN 0-87341-498-5 Further reading * The Comic Book Makers by Joe Simon with Jim Simon ISBN 1-887591-35-4 * Excelsior! The Amazing Life of Stan Lee by Stan Lee and George Mair ISBN 0-684-87305-2 * Masters of Imagination: The Comic Book Artists Hall of Fame by Mike Benton ISBN 0-87833-859-4 * The Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide by Robert Overstreet — Edition #35 ISBN 0-375-72107-X * Origins of Marvel Comics by Stan Lee ISBN 0-7851-0579-4 * The Steranko History of Comics, Vol. 1 & 2, by James Steranko — Vol. 1 ISBN 0-517-50188-0 * Thomas, Roy, The Golden Age of Marvel Comics (Marvel, 1997; ISBN 0-7851-0564-6) Introduction, p. 3 Category:Timely Comics Category:Marvel Comics Category:Companies based in New York City Category:Defunct comics and manga publishing companies